Bay Street and its main political parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, have presided over widening income disparity. Wages aren’t keeping up with inflation. Industrial, manufacturing, and full-time jobs generally are in decline. Pay and working conditions are deteriorating. Austerity and privatization are undermining the quality of public services and access to them. P3s are increasingly the fallback position for most levels of government.

The NDP should be at the centre of popular resistance to neoliberal policy. Instead we have slowly adapted to the corporate agenda. Our democratic structures and program have been altered to resemble the image and methods of the Liberal Party, such as by relying on opinion polls and focus groups to shape NDP electoral campaigns. At the same time, Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders showed how a firebrand, socialist leadership can galvanize huge sections of society.